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WHITBY FREE PRESS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24,1987, PAGE 5 Suppose you go down to the corner store and purchase, oh, say, a widget. Whatever that is. The clerk takes your purchase and rings it up. "That'll be $8,98," he says. "Plus tax." Let us suppose we are talking about sales tax. So On- tario sales tax of seven per cent on $8.98, quick now, that's $.63, or a total of $9.61. Now let us suppose your next door neighbor comes into the store. He also purchases a widget. Whatever they are. The same clerk rings him through. "That'ill be $8.98," he says, "plus tax. That's $1.26. That's $10.24 altogether." That's likely just about the time both you and your neighbor will butt in. You might warit to know why your one neighbor paid twice the rate of tax that you did, and the other paid only half. You might even query the fairness of a government which allowed different people to pay different rates ot tax. But the same type of unfairness in taxation is foisted upon us all the time. And not only do most taxpyaers not complain: the reverse is true. If politicians dared to try to make the system fairer, the hue and cry would be heard all across this province. Your've likely read elittle about this unfair taxation lately in news from T6foñto, where property tax has become so unfair that some people want a new system. In Scarborough, property owners are paying a higher rate of tax than they should and want a fairer system. People in the city of Toronto don't want a new, more fair system of taxation, since under it they would pay more... The same inequalities exist in Whitby and the Region of Durham. Property in Ontario is taxed basically on market value. However, market value is an elusive little sucker to pin down. See, if you go out and evaluate all property at market value in, say Whitby, it might take a year to do the WITHOUR FEET UP by Bill Swan Don't expect tax change whole job. Providing that you did it thoroughly and had an assessor visit each property. So by the time you finished the assessment of all proper- ties, the first ones you did a year ago would be too low. We've all seen how property values change in a year. For that reason, market value is pinned down as assessed value, and that assessed value corrected for time. Put in English, that means that if all property were assesped at 1941 values it would at least be fair to all Whit- by réidents. You could take five years to do the assessment: what would matter is that forever into the future, the assessment would be based on tie 1941 sales prices; property taxes would be based on those values. And everybody would be treated the same, so everybody would be as happy as a pig in a chocolate factory. Except that regional government has put a strain on the equality factor. Whitby taxes are based on 1941 assessment; Oshawa on 1960; and Newcastle on 1980. But they all pay taxes to the Regional Municipality of Durham. To try to be fair, a thing called an equalization factor is multiplied in. Next time you're talking to amunicipal politician, ask her/him to expalin the equalization factor. There's worse. You see, property values in 1941 aren't the same as they are in 1987. So because of that, some people in Whitby are paying half the taxes of what they should; some people are paying twice what they should. And everybody's too scared to ask for a change. An example: vacant land-in 1941 was relatively cheap. So to this day, people with vacant land pay low taxes. In fact, if you owned property worth $200,000 in Whitby, and that land were vacant, you would pay about 10 per cent of the taxes your neighbor would pay for a house worth $200,000. Developers and speculators love such a system, since it makes holding of blocks of land relatively cheap. Purists say that one property worth $200,000 should be taxed the same as another property worht $200,000, regar- dless of its use. Don't expect your local politicians to change the system. Everywhere they have done so, voters have tur- fed them out in the next election. Ask people who live in Newcastle. The real change should come from the provincial government. By provincial decree, David Peterson.could make market value assessment the rule of the province everywhere. And municipal politicians wouldn't have to bear the burden of fairness. But in that case, David Peterson and his Liberals would have to bear the brunt. Which is why you won't see the change to market value assessment for some time. In the meantime, some of us will keep on paying twice the taxes we should, and others will go on paying half or less of what is fair. Ask about it at Town council. Board rejects bus route to new Pringle school Parents in the River Creek Run subdivision area of Anderson and Rossland Road E. have lost their battle to have their children bused to Pringle Creek School when it opens for the new school year in September. Spokesman for the group, Paul Riseborough, who appeared last Wednesday before the Durham Board of Education's property and transportation committee, again appealed to trustees at • their regular meeting on Monday night. Riseborough, who submitted petitions bearing more than 150 names, stressed that routes available for children to walk to the school were dangerous. He said the option to walk across Rossland and down Anderson to Manning was not acceptable because therie were no curbs or sidewalks. He said an alternative of using a route following Garden, Manning and Bassett Streets, or using a tun- nel constructed as a bypass by the developer, were likewise unsafe. "We have approached the Town requesting they keep' the tunnel cleaned, but I think it would be easier to build a new school," said Riseborough. He added he had already been informed the Town had no intention of keeping the tun- nel free from snow during winter months. He relayed a conversation he had with Whitby staff member Bill Grills, who indicated to him the Town had no intention of installing streetlights or placing crossing guards at intersections along the route to be travelled by students because "they feared for the safety of the crossing guards." He said he was told by Grills that there was no safe way of getting the children to school other than busing them. Trustee Ruth Lafarga, who also chairs the property and transpor- tation committee, admitted there were problems with jurisdiction concerning traffic guards, adding that 9,000 vehicles per day pass along Simcoe Street N. in Oshawa between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m. past schools where traffic guards are on duty. "The Town of Whitby needs to explain what their criteria is," she said. John Buchanan, Whitby trustee, agreed there was a traffic problem in the area of Pringle Street School, but said it was the responsibility of the municipality to see children are able to get to the school. "They have.a say where we put the schools and it's their respon- sibility to see a safe route is provided," stated Buchanan. Echoing Buchanan's sentiments, Whitby trustee Patti Bowman suggested Riseborough would have fared better had he ~dealt with Whitby politicians rather than staff members. She suggested - that because of the lack of time to get anything settled, the matter be tabled until the next meeting to give parents a chance to meet with the politicians. Her attempt was lost in a 9-5 vote. "Whitby approved the sub- divisions, the street construction and the location of the school," said Whitby trustee Ian Brown." They should have realized there would be problems." He added the board advised Whitby not to build on the west side of Kendalwood Road in the vicinity of the soon-to-be-built Bellwood School, but this was ignored. "I foresee the same problems as are here tonight will be before us in the near future with regards to Beljwood," he said. The recommendation not to bus students to Pringle Creek School was passed on a 12-2 vote. O'Flynn is chairman Cathy O'Flynn of Oshawa will chair the board of directors of the Crime Stoppers for Durham Region for 1987-88, after elections held June 4. Eric Wright of Ajax will be vice chairman and Anthony Harold of Pickering, fundraising chairman. A University Education and a Career for the Future For more information on plans, entry require- ments and opportunities, visit the recruiting Ix centre nearest you or catl collect . -e ;li the yellow pages under "Recruiti, j. It's your choice, your future. THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES Canad'a' @Umm&,